Page 14 of An Omega Fox for Walker (Beartastic Summer of Love #4)

Fennec

I woke up alone. The side of the bed next to me was still warm, and I groaned, turning over. Every part of me had been imprinted by Walker. Inside and out. My body was deliciously sore.

“Walker,” I called out, hoping he was near.

“Hey. I’m here. Making coffee and breakfast. Did I wake you up?”

I sat up, resting my torso against the headboard, which, after our activities the night before, was surprisingly unbroken. “You didn’t wake me, but I reached for you and realized you weren’t in bed anymore.”

“Aww, I’m sorry, sweet omega. I wanted to make sure you were fed and caffeinated this morning. We had quite the night.” He crawled across the bed and pressed a sweet kiss to my lips.

“We certainly did.”

That second, with my alpha hovering over me was when reality decided to slip in and ruin everything. “What’s going to happen to us?” I asked.

“What do you mean?”

A tear slipped down my face. “I leave in a couple of days. But I don’t want to. I don’t want to live without you.”

“You don’t have to.” He wrapped me up in his arms as a thousand what-ifs played in my head. After last night…after this entire week, there was no way I could return to the hollow life I was living before. “I promise we will be together. No matter what.”

“How?” I asked, trusting his words but questioning reality.

“Let’s talk about it. Are you tied to your job? The place you used to live?”

I sighed. “Not really. It is a dead-end job. No chance of moving up. Ever.”

He nodded. “And your apartment. Do you have a lease?”

I pulled back to look at him. It seemed like he had put more thought into this than I had. “My lease ends next month, now that I think about it. Why?”

“Because I’ve been thinking about you and me.”

“Since when, Walker?”

He chuckled. “Since the moment I saw you lying on that beach. Since your lease is almost up and it seems like you’re not fond of your job, how about you move in with me? I only live a few hours away. I have a house. It needs some renovations but we could fix it up together.”

“Really?”

“Yes. really. I can’t imagine my life without you, Fennec.”

I sighed. “Even without my fox? Remember, I can’t ever shift with you, most likely. Go running with you in the forest? None of that.”

He cupped my cheek. “That doesn’t make you any less of an omega or a shifter to me. I love you.”

“I love you too. But what about the rest of the summer? Didn’t you promise Eddie you would stay for the summer?”

Walker got up and tugged on my hand. “Let’s go eat and get some coffee. And yes, I did promise. How would you feel about staying here the rest of the summer? We could play games with the guests. Bingo. Unlimited s’mores.”

He sat me at the table while he filled a plate for me. Bagels, cream cheese, berries, and my coffee just the way I liked it. A glimpse of us in the future.

“Yes,” I said after the caffeine kicked in.

“Yes, what?”

“Yes, I will stay with you for the rest of the summer and then move in with you.”

Walker jumped up from his seat and picked me up, whirling me around. “You’ve made me the happiest bear on the planet, Fennec.”

The rest of the summer was filled with more love and laughter than I’d ever experienced.

We never fought, instead, chose to work things out with calm voices and loving words.

Walker never got angry. We took nightly walks around the lake and frequently stopped at the place we’d first made love to repeat the scene.

I ate more s’mores than should be legal.

Called out countless bingo games, and we were banned from the relay race from winning too often.

Eddie treated me like family.

We drove to meet Zeke and Brandon’s new baby, Lizzie.

We never wasted a moment because I knew better than anyone that life was short and precious.

“There are no guests tonight,” Walker said, coming in from helping Eddie paint the lobby. I had the windows open, letting the night air cool things off a bit. My alpha came over and kissed my cheek. There was never a lack of affection from Walker. He was a big ole cuddly bear after all.

“No guests?” I put my book down and turned to him. “What do you mean?”

“It’s the end of the summer. I’m officially free.”

I pouted my bottom lip. This was the place I’d met him. This place was home for us. It held too many memories to count. “We have to leave?”

He chuckled and came over to pick me up and plop me in his lap. “We can always come back. We can spend every summer here if you like. Eddie wants us here as often as we can. People enjoy watching happy guests like us.”

We hadn’t talked about having a family, but he would be a wonderful father. He was already a fantastic alpha.

I thought about bringing our children here one day. If we ever had any.

“That sounds like the best idea ever.”